Stuck on stop-loss

Michelle Tan, Army Times (subscription required)

Army not expected to ease policy before fall 2009

Last year’s surge of five combat brigades into Iraq helped drive a 43 percent increase in soldiers being barred from leaving the service under stop-loss orders, and Army leaders predict the policy will remain in place at least through next year. However, they expressed optimism that the numbers will ebb as surge forces redeploy.

More than 12,230 soldiers are under stop-loss orders, compared to 8,540 in May 2007, during the surge. But the 30,000 combat troops that were part of the surge are in the process of coming home, and the Army is returning to 12-month deployments Aug. 1. Because soldiers are placed under stop-loss as members of deploying units, reducing the numbers sent to war reduces the numbers involuntarily held.

“As the [war zone] demand comes down, we should be able to get us weaned off stop-loss,” said Lt. Gen. James Thurman, the Army G-3.

Under stop-loss policies, active-duty soldiers within 90 days of retirement or obligated service are barred from leaving the Army if they are in units alerted for deployment. Reservists and National Guard members are barred from leaving if their units have been alerted for mobilization.

Thurman said he hoped the Army could end stop-loss by fall 2009. In March 2005, 15,758 soldiers fell under stop-loss orders, the most for any month between November 2004 and March 2008, according to Army data. The numbers stayed between 10,000 and 13,000 for about two years after that and fell to an all-time low of 8,540 in May 2007. But the trend reversed the next month as the last of the five surge brigades flowed into Iraq and soldiers settled into 15-month tours.

At the end of March, the most recent month for which data are available, 6,868 active Army soldiers, 3,879 Army National Guard and 1,488 Army Reserve soldiers were affected by stop-loss.

Until then, the number of active Army troops forced to stay beyond their initial enlistments had remained relatively consistent since September, ranging from 6,322 to 7,690.

Much of the increase in March can be attributed to a spike among Guard soldiers — the 3,879 soldiers stop-lossed during that month make up the largest group of Guardsmen affected by the policy since November 2004.

Overall, about 58,000 soldiers, about 1 percent of the active force and activated Guard and Reserve soldiers, have been affected by the stop-loss policy since 2002, said Lt. Col. Anne Edgecomb, an Army spokeswoman.

The move to reduce and eventually eliminate stop-loss is tied to the Army’s efforts to return to 12-month deployments and increase dwell time for soldiers, Thurman said.

“Reducing the deployment time to no more than 12 months is going to help us restore the balance and strategic depth [of the Army],” he said.

President Bush announced April 10 that active Army soldiers serving in the Central Command area of operations, which includes Iraq and Afghanistan, will return to 12-month tours beginning Aug. 1.

Soldiers deployed now should expect to be deployed for 15 months.

More time at home

With time, if conditions in the war zone permit it and the Army meets its growth goals, dwell time for soldiers should increase, Thurman said.

“Ideally, we want to push dwell to 15 to 18 months,” he said.

Soldiers now get an average of 12 months at home. Thurman estimated that dwell time could grow to 18 months by the end of fiscal 2009 and 24 months by the end of fiscal 2011.

The ability to keep soldiers home will allow them to train for full-spectrum operations, Thurman said.

“We don’t have enough time back home,” he said. “You get into what I call atrophy of skills.”

The ultimate goal for active-duty soldiers is one year deployed, three years at home, but that won’t be possible for several years, Thurman said. The goal for the reserve component is one year deployed, five years at home, he said.

When the surge in Iraq ends this summer, the Army has been told, its requirement for Iraq and Afghanistan is 15 active Army brigade combat teams, Thurman said.

There are 17 BCTs in Iraq and two in Afghanistan. At the height of the surge, 20 active Army BCTs were deployed in the two theaters.

The Army also will need support from four or five Guard BCTs, he said.

A bigger Army

By the end of fiscal 2010, Army leaders hope to have an active-duty end-strength of 547,000. The Guard is growing to more than 358,000 and the Army Reserve is planning for 205,000, Thurman said.

Plans include adding six BCTs in the active component for a total of 48, plus 28 in the Guard, by the end of fiscal 2011. There will be 223 support brigades by that time, Thurman said.

If the service meets its goals, 21 BCTs — 16 active, four or five Guard — will be ready to go at any time, Thurman said.

And the Army continues to provide other troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. The demand for these troops is not coming down, Thurman said.

About 53 percent of deployed soldiers is assigned to BCTs, but the rest belong to units such as division headquarters, sustainment brigades, engineer brigades, combat aviation brigades, military police brigades and military transition teams, according to information provided by the G-3 staff.

Critical military occupational specialties include special operations, infantry, aviation, military intelligence, engineers, civil affairs and military police, Thurman said, and the Army is focused on growing those jobs.

The nation will continue to be engaged in persistent conflict, and even though soldiers are resilient, it is critical for the Army to return to 12-month tours and meet its goals for growth, Thurman said.

Bottom line

Stop-loss and stop-move policies that bar the reassignment, voluntary separation and retirement of soldiers in deployed and mobilized units have been in effect since November 2002 for reservists and June 2004 for active-duty soldiers.

Here are highlights of the program:

• Stop-loss and stop-move policies will remain in effect until lifted by the secretary of defense and the assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and reserve affairs.

• Restrictions under the active-component unit program take effect 90 days before the earliest theater arrival date specified in deployment orders issued by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The restrictions continue through a unit’s deployment to home station, plus a stabilization period of no more than 90 days.

• The active-component restrictions apply to all soldiers in units that are alerted to deploy in support of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Included are deployable and nondeployable soldiers assigned to a unit’s rear detachment.

• National Guard and Army Reserve restrictions apply to all reserve call-ups for the war on terrorism (including homeland defense) and Central Command operations. They apply to mobilized units and all their soldiers, regardless of specialty.

Soldiers are placed in stop-loss status when the unit is alerted for mobilization and until 90 days after demobilization.

• Stop-move does not apply to soldiers in units performing homeland defense missions.

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